Standing Strong by Thomas Wright
Thomas Wright is River City Art Association’s September Artist of the Month to be featured by the Vigo County Public Library in a virtual gallery on its Facebook page and YouTube channel.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the library is unable to display artwork in its Artist of the Month gallery space in the lobby of the main branch in Terre Haute.
Greene to Chrome by Thomas Wright
The virtual presentation created by the library includes new work not previously displayed by Wright: “Angel Oak”, “White Altered”, “Green to Chrome”, “Standing Strong”, “Rest Stop”, and “Abandoned Pier”.
The two car images “White Altered” and “Green to Chrome” are part of Wright’s ever growing Definitive Car Series. This series is a concentration of the different lines, curves and parts of older cars that provide the onlooker with the information needed to identify the car. Most cars of today look much the same unlike the cars of yesterday which tend to have a personality and their own definitive look.
“Angel Oak” is an image of one of America’s oldest living trees. It stands in Angel Oak Park near Charleston, South Carolina. It is thought by some to be near 1500 years old but is more likely around 500 years of age. It is 65 feet tall and 28 feet in circumference. It provides 17,000 square feet of shade and the longest branch is 187 feet long. Truly, Angel Oak is a magnificent tree for all to enjoy.
Wright’s artist statement is “Life is too short, preserve its memories in a photo as tomorrow is never promised”
Wright, born and raised in Terre Haute, had a fascination for photography and art at a young age. He was always drawing or taking photographs. After saving enough of his hard earned money, he bought his first “real” camera from Galloway Photo Shops.
While attending Terre Haute South Vigo High School, he became the lead photographer for the yearbook. He also continued to sharpen his skills behind the camera and became a sales associate at Galloway Photo.
After working at Galloway Photo for awhile, Wright was promoted to run the black and white photo finishing and copy lab. He continued to work for Galloway Photo for close to six years before taking a job at Sony DADC, where he was a printer for almost 32 years.
Wright left factory work due to health reasons and now concentrates on his photography. Wright prints all of his work himself at home whether for an art exhibit or personal everyday use. He uses high quality professional papers and inks specializing in metallic and pearl based papers. Using these specific professional metallic and pearl papers, the final images are produced with a truly realistic look and have a much more vibrant color reproduction to the final print in comparison to a normal matte, semi-gloss, or glossy surface print.
Wright has received several placement awards through the years entering his artwork in photography contests by TREES Inc. and in the professional open class Fine Arts Department at the Vigo County Fair.
In 2018 Wright became an active member of River City Art Association and Wabash Valley Art Guild and has entered many juried exhibitions and art shows promoted by the two groups. Wright received a first place award on his titled piece “Vertical Limits” at the 2018 WVAG Spring Fling show at Clabber Girl as well as an honorable mention on his titled piece “Frosted”. He received a second place on his titled piece “Blue to Chrome” at the 2018 Terre Haute First National Bank sponsored River City Summer art exhibit. In 2019 he received an honorable mention on his titled piece “Golden Reflections” in the Clabber Girl WVAG exhibit. He received a second place award on his titled piece “Golden Reflections” at the 2019 River City summer exhibit at Terre Haute First National bank.
Most recent Wright received first place top honors on his titled piece “Reflective Past” at the 2019 Midwest Photography Show that was on exhibit at the Link Art Gallery in Paris, Illinois.
RIVER CITY ART ASSOCIATION 